Brazilian footballers cancel strike

By -
Associated Press -
Friday, February 7, 2014

SAO PAULO (AP) - One of Brazil’s leading championships will not be halted this weekend as expected because players from smaller clubs decided not to join a strike proposed by players from some of the country’s top clubs to protest against fan violence.

Players in the Sao Paulo state championship said this week they were not going to compete after players from popular club Corinthians were attacked last weekend at the team’s training center by about 100 fans upset with poor results, yet another incident tarnishing the image of Brazilian football a few months before the World Cup.

A union told local media the strike was called off because players from the smaller clubs in the 20-team tournament didn’t want to get into disputes with their bosses and risk losing their jobs.